Rights group sounds alarm over rising kolbar deaths
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Kurdish kolbar has died on Thursday reportedly from a gunshot wound after coming under fire from Iranian security forces as rights groups sound the alarm over an increase in deaths of the porters.
Kamal Mohammadi, a kolbar from Baneh in Iran’s Kurdistan province, was shot by Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights that monitors rights abuses in Iranian Kurdistan.
Mohammadi was taken by hospital in Sulaimani but died before arriving.
A day earlier, another kolbar named Salim Khalili was reportedly killed by Iranian forces in Oshanvieh, West Azerbaijan province.
Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border either on their back or with horses. Some also smuggle banned goods like alcohol across the border.
It is a risky profession as they cross dangerous mountain passes where legacy mines from the Iran-Iraq war are a hazard. They also risk coming under fire from Iranian security forces.
In the last ten days, four kolbars were killed by Iranian forces and seven wounded, according to Hengaw.
Another rights monitor, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that six kolbars have been killed in the same time frame. It warned that the “systematic killing of kolbars has increased.”
Iran has attempted to regulate the trade, introducing licences and pledging economic development in the Kurdish areas that are among the poorest in the country.
Kamal Mohammadi, a kolbar from Baneh in Iran’s Kurdistan province, was shot by Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights that monitors rights abuses in Iranian Kurdistan.
Mohammadi was taken by hospital in Sulaimani but died before arriving.
A day earlier, another kolbar named Salim Khalili was reportedly killed by Iranian forces in Oshanvieh, West Azerbaijan province.
Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border either on their back or with horses. Some also smuggle banned goods like alcohol across the border.
It is a risky profession as they cross dangerous mountain passes where legacy mines from the Iran-Iraq war are a hazard. They also risk coming under fire from Iranian security forces.
In the last ten days, four kolbars were killed by Iranian forces and seven wounded, according to Hengaw.
Another rights monitor, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that six kolbars have been killed in the same time frame. It warned that the “systematic killing of kolbars has increased.”
Iran has attempted to regulate the trade, introducing licences and pledging economic development in the Kurdish areas that are among the poorest in the country.
Related: Poverty forces Kurdish porters to choose between religion and livelihood